COUSIN'S CAMP

This June we did a Cousin's Camp. It's a really fun time where we plan activities for all of the kids at Grandmother and Grandpa Simpson's home. The kids all really enjoy it.

Here is a picture with the grandchildren (minus Sada and Kipling). Can you tell the Grandparents are in heaven?

One of the kids favorite pastimes is to take a "hay ride" with Grandpa Simpson. All the cousins climb into the trailer and Grandpa pulls them around in his tractor. They love it!

This year we had water squirters and the kids got to shoot *cold* water at each other. Mia didn't care for this part at all! However, little Helena (Cerah's youngest) absolutely loved it and loved being in the middle of everything.

Helena and Spencer- at one point Spencer picked a flower and gave it to Helena. But then changed his mind, and took it back. :)

Tug-O-War: The girls won the first round... the boys weren't too thrilled with that. But with the assistance of an Uncle... the boys won the second round. Then it was time for the adults to take a turn. The Aunts won over the Uncles. I'm not sure if they let us win or not....

EVERY WEEK THERE'S SOMETHING NEW

Ok... so life has been BUSY! Every week there has been something new and fun. My Grandparent's came in town, Kalea did little summer day camps for a week, and of course our favorite... a visit from Aunt Cerah and her munchkins! We love it when Cerah comes in town. Not only do we get to fun stuff with William, Hannah, and Helena... but Cerah got to meet Landen. Oh... sweet Auntie decided to paint Landen's toenails, put hair bows on him, and dress him up in a number of ways. Including the crown below and a feather indian hat.

*These pictures are from our trip to Marbles Museum*

*Sorry Cherre... I HAD to!*

After Cerah left to go back to Utah, my cousin Kahea came in town with her 3 kids. Sadly, no pictures were taken, but the kids had a blast playing and driving their parents crazy.

Ok... so Kalea goes back to Virginia and we start a-packin for the beach! This is our first year taking our own little family vacation by ourselves. We rented out a condo at Tiffany's and stayed there for 4 nights, 5 days. They were doing a special where you pay for 3 nights and get the 4th night free. But for some reason they didn't book us for the 4th night and had reserved our room for someone else. So naturally, they upgraded us to a King Suite and it was AWESOME! (minus our neighbors who thought partying late into the night was "cool". Of course I knocked on their door and told them to keep it down. )

This little boy LOVED the sand and the water. We would look over at him and he had handfuls of sand in his hands just eating away. He really loved going out into the waves with Christian. Which makes me nervous. FYI: I'm VERY VERY paranoid when it comes to the ocean. It could be because I got caught in an under toe as a kid, it could be because I have this unnatural fear that my sea is going to take my children from me. I'm not quite sure. But I never go past my waist. And when the girls aren't really paying attention to what they're doing... my anxiety level goes WAAAAAY up.

So here was our first place...

Here is the view from our new room. It was beautiful and very peaceful.

...And this is our upgrade :)

We spent most of our days at the pool or the beach. I bought Kalea and Mia some water-wings so they swim and kick all by themselves. It's really nice I cause I don't have to worry about them. And Landen just loves to float along on his lily pad. The last day we went for a walk on the pier. It was fun to watch all the surfers up close. They were even more impressed that their daddy knows how to surf too!

So straight from the Topsail Island we drove to Wilmington to the Aquarium. Ok... in case you didn't know... it takes awhile to get to the Aquarium. We thought it might take maybe 30 minutes. It was over an hour! Once we got there we went in and saw a few things. But not long after Mia starting complaining about being hungry and thirsty. So we walked back to the car and went looking for picnic benches to eat on. Um... we must have parked in a mosquito's nest because we were ATTACKED! I'm talking in the car, all over us... it was crazy. So we decided to go to McDonald's instead. And instead of going back to the Aquarium we just decided to drive home. It was way too much excitement and craziness for the end of the trip. We were ready to go home and relax.

It was a fun trip but exhausting. When we got home and Christian and I were laying around, I looked at him and said, "I need a vacation." It's a lot of work when there are 3 small children involved. Lots of melt downs and naps. But also lots of early bed times, Popsicles, laughs, and memories.

MY FAVORITES

HOLY CRAP! It's been almost a month since my last post.  And since I usually post about events and my kids I've decided to post about MEEEE!!! (lucky u)

PS --> We did go on vacation (if you could call it that with 3 young kids) to the beach for a week, but before that, I felt VERY unmotivated to blog.  Mostly because a. Landen cut 3 teeth in a week (yikes!). b. Mia throws tantrums at least 23 times a day. and c. Kalea likes to question "WHY????" with everything I tell her. So life has not exactly been cake.  But I will post pictures of life a little later on... okay.... back to me ;)

1. I am HUGE into fragrance and my absolute favorite for my home is Febreze Lavender Vanilla and Comfort.  If you haven't smelled this.... YOU ARE MISSING OUT!  It is soooo relaxing and wonderful in every way.  They make this scent in candles, spray, Swiffer mop liquid, Air Freshener, dryer sheets... EVERYTHING!  LOVE IT!!

2. My second HUGE obsession would be Dr. Pepper.  I remember tasting it when I was a kid and my mom trying to deter it from me... due to the caffeine of course.  However, it was love at first taste.  I did mention to her one day, "Is it bad when it starts to taste like water cause I drink it so often?"  And she just kinda glared at me.

♥ LOVE YOU DR. PEPPER!!!!! ♥

3.  Sometimes I say pretty stupid stuff.  I like to compare it to "word vomit".  It's almost like I don't know it's happening and then I just start talking and not making a whole lot of sense.  But I do have to say that I LOVE the way Christian looks at me when I say something particularly airhead-ish.  It's almost this endearing/baffled/pitied look that I get.  But there is always... ALWAYS... love behind those eyes of his.  Sometimes he has to ask me if I'm being serious cause he can't tell if I'm really that dumb.... and usually I have to act like it was all a big joke.... but it usually isn't.

4.  I absolutely love it when someone calls me Kristy Alo.  It just takes me back and it almost feels freeing.  HAHA!  (it's true though.)

5.  I really love being Hawaiian.  I know what you're thinking.... who wouldn't love it?   :)  Even though I'm just partially Hawaiian and I'm a huge "mutt"  it is something that I cherish and hold dear to me.  What's funny is that sometimes Christian likes to get under my skin and tell me that I'm "barely" Hawaiian.  And then there are times when Christian goes out of the way to tell people that I have Hawaiian blood.  It makes me want to smack him and to tell him to make up his mind! 

6. I used to be kind of a spit fire.  I use the term "used to be" loosely.  But even when Christian and I were dating... Cletus and Alice knew me from my high school years and Cletus mentioned to Christian.  "She isn't very nice... is she?"  It kind of cracks me up.  But I've definitely been trying to make up for my sassiness as I've gotten older.  Definitely try to be nicer and not quite so out of control.  Trying being the definitive word here.  I remember my junior year when I was a hostess at a restaurant I used to come home annoyed because I had to smile and be nice to people all evening long that it would make my face hurt.  

7. I like only being 5'1 (almost 5'2).  I've always been child size.  Wouldn't have it any other way... even when I get the stares from people who think I'm a 16 year old hauling around 3 kids. And I almost always wear flats cause I don't really care that I look like a munchkin.  Who needs long legs?

That's all I can think of for now.... to be continued....

HI. MY NAME IS KRISTY.... AND I'M A DRUG ADDICT.

FOR REAL.

Ok so around 8 1/2 - 9 months ago (right after I had Landen) I was depressed. I'm talking WAY depressed so the doctors put me on Zoloft for Post Partum Depression. Ok so now Landen is 10 months old and I'm ready to kick myself off this drug and get on with life as normal. So I stopped taking it. I've been off it for all of 5 days and I started having serious issues. At first I thought I was getting sick. I was nauseous, dizzy, breaking out into sweats. That was just the beginning. Then when I would lay down the room would start to spin and when I would close my eyes... no lie... my brain felt like it was shocking my body. I couldn't fall asleep for hours. I'd just lay there feeling CRAZY. So, I finally thought... ok, I need to figure out why I'm feeling this way. Where is this all coming from? So I GOOGLED "Zoloft Withdrawal" and here are the symptoms:

"...symptoms including mental confusion, joint pain, dizziness, stomachaches, nausea, tremors etc. are signs of withdrawal."

"...There is one particular, very unpleasant withdrawal symptom called REM Behavior Disorder. When moving your eyes too quickly, you dream in sequences- you are awake but you have hallucinations like you are actually dreaming..."

"Zoloft withdrawal can cause jolting electric "zaps", dizziness, motor instability, extreme nausea, vomiting, high fever, abdominal discomfort, flu symptoms, agitation, anxiety, insomnia, aggression, nightmares, tremor, seizures, and confusion. In some persons, Zoloft withdrawal has become so painful that it lead them to commit suicide rather than face the agony any longer. "

Seriously? Seriously!??! This is what they put me on? Driving around I would get confused and even things someone would tell me, I would forget instantly or struggle to remember... like I was losing my memory. Ok, so called my pharmacist (since my doctor's office was closed) and told him what was going on. He told me I needed to taper off slowly and not do this "cold turkey". So after work I went to CVS and picked my prescription. And what did I do?? I took a pill and the next morning... I FEEL FINE. STUPID STUPID STUPID ZOLOFT!!! I'm so mad I could spit at this company. Some people are suing over these withdrawals. I definitely wouldn't go that far, but I do feel like it is a pretty serious drug and they definitely don't warn you the way they should about the side effects.

WELCOME TO MY 100TH POST!! (lucky you)

...AND WELCOME TO MY WORLD OF CHAOS!!!

For starters we went to the zoo last monday. It was Landen's first visit and he was completely oblivious to what was going on. But he did really well. Kalea and Mia really wanted to go and see the Baboons but we didn't have time in the end. Kalea was a little disappointed since she loves to see them attack us thru the glass.

Landen ready to go!

Christian and I in the helicopter.

The girls wanted to to climb up and sit only every animal we saw.

Then on Friday we drove with Cherre and Eric to their Lake house for the weekend. Cletus and Alice's family also joined us. The girl's had such a great time... we barely saw them unless we were on the water. We had such a great time on the water. Unfortunately, Landen got into a bad habit of sleeping with me so I had to break that habit right away.

Crazy Story: At one point the little girls wanted to out on the tube alone so we let them. Bad judgement on our part? Maybe... Eric was driving really slow for them but at one point we must have driven over a wake and it popped the girls up in the air. We (all the mothers) screamed and the girls did look a little freaked. I think because they didn't weigh much, it made them catch some air. It was a little scary. Granted, they had on life jackets but can you see 5 little girls in the water screaming? Not such a great mental picture.

Christian and Kalea "swimming" in the water.


Mia all tuckered out.

Mama and Landen (he hated the life jacket)

We got home and I got kind of sick to where we came home from church. It was Camillia's Graduation from dental hygeine school so I couldn't make it. However, Christian took Kalea and this is how Mia came home:

Apparently Christian had taken her to the potty and afterwards went outside to do something. Mia came out screaming and had pooped her pants. So Christian threw away her panties and Mother went up into the attic and came back with this outfit. They had to convince Mia that it was a girl's soccer shirt. She looks thrilled, huh.

And Mrs. Lisa Larson had her baby!... Finally!! Little Miss Katie Briet Larson was born May 27th and weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 20 inches long. She is absolutely perfect! She has tons of brown hair and looks a lot like her Mama. Lisa is doing great and motherhood is coming naturally for her. Love you Katie!!!

HERE I GO! HERE I GO! HERE I GO AGAIN... GIRL'S WHAT'S MY WEAKNESS?...

CHRISTIAN! Hahaha.... thought I'd start this blog off with a little Salt-n-Pepa. Completely unrelated to this post.... not this post will have any direct topic to it. It's mostly going to be random thoughts, random events, and probably a few jokes mingled in there.

Let's see.... I have Scoliosis. GREEEAAATTT.... if you're curious as to what scoliosis is here are a few boring facts:
2% of women and .5% of men develop scoliosis.
80% of scoliosis develops in adolescence.
Some Symptoms Are:
shoulders are different heights (check)
appearance of raised or prominent hip (check)
rib cages are at different heights (check)

I knew that I had a little bit of a curvature to my spine, but since I am going to a physical therapist for my neck and shoulders, they have also decided that we need to work on this also. I'm a mess. But my physical therapy is going really well. They have really helped me with the pain in my shoulders and neck. It's still tight and tense but it's getting better. I have about 5 exercises that I have to work on while I'm at home. It hasn't been easy, but well worth it.

Ok... so let me vent for a minute with out anyone trying to punch me in the face the next time they see me. NONE OF MY SHORTS OR CAPRI'S FIT ME ANYMORE!! I know what you're thinking..."wah wah wah! Kristy's tiny so she doesn't deserve my sympathy." Well my wardrobe strongly disagrees with you. Nothing fits me. It's a bit frustrating.

We went to Crabtree Lake on Wednesday with a bunch of my sis-in-laws and their kids. The girls had a great time. Funny story: So Mia had to go potty and the only thing around us were 2 portapotty's. So we walked on over and opened the door. Mia looks and says, "That's nasty." So we go to the second and she promptly tells me she no longer has to go potty. So about 40 min later she comes up to me and says she went pee pee in her pants. Which she BARELY did (this kid has GREAT bladder control). So here's my solution. I took her to the car. Put one of Landen's size 4 diapers (yes! landen is a size 4... crazy!!) and told her to pee in the diaper and that I would throw it away. This is the part of the story where Christian asked me why I didn't make her pop a squat in the trees. And I reasoned with him by explaining that if she did that, I would be cleaning pee off her legs and shoes. This was much easier of a clean up. Anyways, so she pee's in the diaper and all is right in the world again. I'm actually very surprised that she went a long with it.

Later on that evening I found a tick on me. I was not pleased! I felt very violated. I told Mia later on that I found a "bugga bugga" on me. And she was like, "ohhhh just like me!" (I had found a tick on her several weeks earlier). We now have a new thing to bond over.

We have this old stuffed Dinosaur from when Christian was little. It's Little Foot from the Land Before Time. Anyways, this thing is pretty big. It's the same size as Landen. So needless to say, Landen is weary of said dinosaur. The other night we were reading Scriptures before bed and Landen was eyeing the dinosaur. So as he gets closer and closer I was curious to see what Landen would do if the L.F. started moving. So I made the dinosaur jerk towards Landen. Not a good idea. Landen FREAKED out and started crawling (and crying) as fast as he could to the door. Poor baby. He didn't even try and go for Christian or I. He just wanted out of that room as fast as he could. Landen is also starting to pull up. When he started doing this Christian called me and asked me if I'd seem Landen pull himself up yet. I haden't, so I told Christian to trip or push Landen down when he saw him do this. KIDDING KIDDING! I mean, I really DID tell Christian to do this, but I wasn't being serious. Come on people!

Kalea asked me the other day why I didn't do the grocery shopping. And I told her because Daddy does it. She then asked me if it was because I didn't know how to use the coupons. And just to end the interrogation I told her yes. So what does she do? She proceeds to cut out squares of paper and asks me how to spell banana, yogurt, apples, lemons, cereal, etc. Later on she brings me 12 little homemade coupons and told me that I could use these coupons at the store (if I wanted to). What a sweet little girl.

Ok... I think that's it. If I think of more... I'll let you know.

PEACE LOVE AND CHICKEN GREASE

♥ WILD AT HEART ♥

One of my new favorite songs. It's pretty much my anthem. It's a little bit pop meets country, but it's catchy and I like it!